II

Lachlan wakes up in a hospital and being treated; his mouth, tongue and throat dry. He sat up and drank the water that was left, he reached for it but his body is weak; the door opened and a woman came in. His wife, she has brown hair, blue eyes and a simple body build. She came in with the nurse; and nurse called on the doctor. His wife came and laid a kiss on his lips, the couple smiled as the doctor comes in. The doctor did the check on Lachlan and he seems to be okay and can be discharged within the day, his wife explained what happened to him — he thought of how pathetic he was— and he covers his face in embarrassment. The 2 laughed it off as he ate the fruits that she has for him; he clearly enjoyed her company.

Within the day he has already been discharged and now is heading back home to his house in order to rest; and tomorrow he must head back in order to continue with the investigation with Frazer. His wife filled him up about the situation of the investigation as per Frazer's request; after all that is his job. Not trusting her husband —as he might faint unnoted— she drove in his stead, while her husband takes a break and enjoys the view from the hospital to his house; where there is nothing much to look at, but it calmed his nerves. Along the way he can see a man in different period clothing, most likely in the 1800s, and looking directly at him in every street corner they turn, he is obviously out of place but no one seems to notice him. His outfit makes him stick out like a sore thumb among the crowd, but no one seems to bother. They stopped at an intersection and he can see the man directly, he points him out to his wife.

"Uh, sweetie, do you see that man?"

"Where?" She looks around on the area that he points out too, but she says there is nothing; thinking he must still be tired he asked him to sleep.

"Yeah... maybe... I'm just tired" He smiles at her and just rested his little head.

"Rest well sweetie" They both touched hands.

He notices that she did not put on her seatbelt and he asked her to fasten it.

"Our home is near the hospital, you do not have to worry"

"I just.... have somewhat of a bad feeling"

"Don't worry, that is just the fainting earlier, nothing to worry about me here... I'm strong"

His sights then move in front as he felt relieved; the lights turn green and the cars move. He sees the familiar street meaning they are nearing towards their home; but he feels unsettled as he kept looking out on the pavements, the lights turned red and Lachlan points directly to the man beside him who is crossing the street; the same man from earlier. He keeps pointing him out — over there — but she only looked more worried for her husband and stops him immediately. The man stands in front of the car as the lights switched to green, the car moves and he stops the car; screaming at his wife, their car hits another in the crossing and the crowd starts to pile up as the loud crash disturbs the peace. Lachlan gets out of the car —limping— and headed to the driver's door, as he steps in front of the door and about to pull it open he sees the man standing with a book and quill; writing something down.

He shakes his head, looks down and the man disappears out of sight. His focus still disrupted from the crash, he tries to regain it by closing his eyes and covering his ear. He starts to pant, he grabs the door and pulls it open; with all his strength, but it was futile. He looks through the window and his wife is gone, his vision drifted across and sees a body on where he was sitting down.

"What the hell?"

The door swung open and it knocked him to another place, he fell on the ground and sees the same man sitting on a chair; and drinking with another man. The man on the right was the one who was 'tracking' him and the other is, someone new but they look mostly alike — with the pale skin mostly. He got up; and the pain is gone. He moves around, bewildered, as to what just happened to him. His eyes darted around the small room; the same diamond pattern.

"You must be confused as to why you are here. You were in a crash but how did you end up here" The man sitting on the left spoke with a cold voice; he mixes his drink and takes a sip. The air around them seems to be colder, as if he is speaking to the dead.

"Ye-Yes I am.. I need to get back to my wife please!"

"I am sorry"

The man on the left stood up as he put down his cup; he seems to be angry, he puts on his jacket and the man in front of him nodded and left through the door behind him. "Follow" The man asked, and so did Lachlan follow him. The man stood in font of the door and swung it open, they ended up outside; and he can see the 'event' on another point. The door where they came from has turned back to how he would describe as 'normal'; unlike earlier where it was just a doorknob.

"What the hell is happening?"

He comes to the realization of what he is currently witness, and Lachlan rushed to where his wife is; and he is on the ground. Her face on the ground directly, and the damage is sever as proof of the blood running down. He bends down to look at his wife — his hand trembles in sadness, and regret — and tries to grab her but the man does not allow him; he grabs him by the arm.

"Let me go please... THAT'S MY WIFE!!!"

"Was"

The man moved his hand and the world itself seems to move; this time they are beside the car.

"What is this?"

"See for yourself"

Lachlan looks confused with what the man is saying; he just agrees and approaches the car. He looks through the window and sees himself, his eyes is filled with shock upon what he is seeing; his body. His mouth and nose bleeding, his eyes red shut, and his neck broken into 2. The impact must have been strong but for him it was nothing. Lachlan walked past the car and back to his wife not believing what he is witnessing; but the man does not allow him to. He begs and begs him to save her but he cannot; he begs even for his own life. Out of all the things he should not be believing in he does not believe that his wife is dead.

"I do not bring back the dead, I take them"

"Take, are you... Death?"

"Who else, your Wife's soul has decided to be 'rebirthed', but for you that is your fate to decide, one of my reapers decided to bring you here to me, meaning you have potential"

"For what?"

"Fighting the real darkness of our world"

"What are you saying?"

"Mr. Goodman, the world is a darker place that you can imagine; so dark that creatures has thrived on it. One of the monsters that we have kept away from the humans has came out and caused havoc, can you guess?"

"No?"

"Think harder, why did you faint? What was the reason?"

"Nessie?"

"Is that what you call it, if so yes. If it is not dealt with the other's will be awakened"

"Others?"

"Judgement day young man, the beast from the deep is just the beginning, others will rise such as the Impaler of Wallachia who will take over the earth with his army, the embodiment of sin and the war for the world will soon be upon us"

As Death spoke the world around him has stopped; rain froze in its place, and all he can do is listen.

"There is an Organization that I have created along with the Archangels and the Priestess of Purity on earth, they will recruit children who are marked"

"Okay?"

"Children who can perceive the Supernatural and Paranormal, those who can fight and interact against them"

"And you called 'him' a Reaper, what his their role?

"His role is to ensure that every soul that can fight against the Altered ones"

"Altered?"

"Yes. The people who summons them are called corrupters, they who use the powers of darkness to summon what you call ghosts, demons, or those folk lore. Using a person's belief about these creatures are the reason why they exist"

"So If people believes in ghosts, it exists?"

"Precisely, your new role as a Reaper is to reincarnate every child that has the essence of Imperium and condemn those who are corrupted"

"I do not wish to be a Reaper, I want to live another life with the woman I love"

"But will you allow the both of you to live in a world where darkness continues to loom, real darkness mind you"

"....."

"Not just those the politicians, the criminals, those who are neglectful, monsters, but the real ones?"

"....."

"Can you live in a world plagued by those kind?"

"No"

"What say you Lachlan Goodman?"

"What happens if I were to accept?"

"You will until your mission is completed and..."

"....."

"I shall take your memories of your past, in order for you to properly function as one of my Reapers"

"Such a heavy price"

"But the results will be worth it, I promise you that"

Lachlan stands up to him, frozen in fear — his decisions conflicting. The way he sees the world is a whole lot different than he expected. He stands there confused and conflicted for long, until he came to a consensus with himself. He looks up the sky and sees the cloud — still — there not moving; but free. He does not know what to do, nor can he do anything at this part in his life.

"I have a question"

"this organization what do you do?"

"We teach children how to use what we call the Imperium, and train them to unlock their 6th sense"

"How long will these take, until we kill or eliminate darkness?"

"Yeah... Millenia, but you will not be able to keep track my friend, you will roam as a 'human', here"

Death handed him his wife's ring, he looks over to his ring finger and it is gone. He looks closer to the ring and the 2 rings has been molded into one; it was an engagement ring. They were to be married but he loved her so much that he started to call her as his 'wife' out of his love for her.

"The ring shall conceal your existence, except for the children who can perceive you, if you are to wear that, then you have accepted your new fate"

He looks at the ring properly and examined it, lifting it up to the sun and checks it out. He keeps hesitating to put it on; he comes to a decision. Lachlan Kisses it and slowly puts the ring on to his right pinky finger instead. The ring shrunk and fitted to his pinky finger and his fate has been sealed.

"Well, Welcome"

Death shook his hand and the contract was created, blue flame was made when they shook their hands; it formed into a circle. It starts to spin and Lachlan passed through, he seems to be where the investigation is and he sees the man earlier; waiting for him. The time here has also stopped on where he is.

"By the way, you started to die when you fainted... your wife was rushing you to the hospital"

"What did you say?"

"All right, Albert"

"Yes sir?"

"Tell him what do"

"All right come here"

They have already started their plan and naturally Lachlan attacked Nessie. In his head he can hear death speak.

'Did I tell you, you can kill monsters only as they have no proper soul, their existence relies on a person's believes, for some at least but others that personify as human uses a soul to mold itself' He calmly explained to Lachlan who is running on water like it is nothing.

He turned around to see the officers falling down on the ground one by one as Albert put them to sleep.

"Good"

He grabbed his gun from his jacket and jumps on to the boat where Frazer is.

"Lachlan, what the f- how did you get here?"

"No time to explain"

Lachlan grabbed Fraser and the helmsman by their hands and threw them across the lake back to the shore where Albert is waiting. As they reached their highest peak Nessie jumps up to but them but Lachlan was faster to shoot. He aimed his gun and blue flame starts to envelope the gun and accumulates in the barrel. He presses the trigger and fires directly to Nessie's mouth. Frazer and the helmsman were easily caught by Albert, who put them to sleep like the other officers.

"Good"

Nessie falls back down and the lake was disturbed by a massive wave, the boat was overturned and Lachlan is in the water. The beast swims by and tries to bite on Lachlan but he manages to dodge it, the gets on top of the boat only for Nessie bite it through.

"Oh shit"

He aimed once more and fired four more rounds fatally wounding the mythical beast as it falls down. Lachlan focuses all the power that he has and steps on water, the top of the water felt like hard ground as he dashed towards the shoreline, Nessie is right behind him opening its massive mouth. Lachlan jumps allowing himself to be eaten by beast but using a pocket knife he stabs through its mouth, holding himself on place.

"Eat this"

He aimed down the beast's esophagus and charges up the last bullet that he has. He pressed gently on the trigger and the bullet went pass the beast's skin and outside into the lakebed. The bullet left a blue trail as passes down, using the pocket knife and with some added Imperium he cuts himself outside. Death and Albert seems to be also destroying the beat's belly and finding the kids.

"Damn"

"Get over here"

Lachlan steps out and the beast starts to disintegrate and float up into the air, starting from its wounds. Lachlan can only look at it as if it was normal.

"Well, we found them"

"Who are they?"

"No idea"

"Kids from the investigation obviously led by that man"

Lachlan points out, Death can only look at him and feel sorry as he has completely forgotten about his past life already as soon as he shook his hand.

"I have commanded the officers of what you said to me, the beast will go away in a manner of seconds"

"Now, go the different parts of the world you two, we need to find the children who will lead the world to a brighter day, the judgement day is coming, we must do all we can to prevent it"

"Yes sir"

"I'll stay here"

"Glad you said, here head to this place Lachlan"

Death handed him a name of a pub, written in a beautiful penmanship.

"A pub?"

"Yes, and also a hotel, it needs maintenance"

"Sure"

"You can still hear the lost souls, and I believe you already know how to use that?"

"Yes"

He explained the functions of each new item that he has. A pocket watch to fully stop time for him and anyone who has an Imperium that he is interacting with. A book to write the names of the lost souls, and a quill to right it with. Their world is falling into a new era, and they must do everything they can to the best of their abilities to save it from despair.

"And now, some of the beings are coming up, like-"

"Revival, the one with the souls are being revived by something we do not know, and from those Altered once, creatures from legends and myths are coming up alive as well"

"What if other folk lore were based on the real thing?"

"You'll know how to deal with it"

"Uh huh"

"Good luck"

"Wait sir last, I'm a Reaper?"

"Yes, for now, but when a century passes by you will become a Grim Reaper, whose purpose will only accompany new Reapers and people who have Imperium in their quests, and if you want to be a Grim Reaper just ask me and I shall grant it"

"No, what if a Reaper has lived a millennia?"

"You'll be one of my Angels, you are given the same powers as mine, you can enter the purgatory and judge the souls there, if they are worthy to enter Heaven or Hell, and you will be powerful enough to fight demons"

Realizing how fictional his world has become, Lachlan spends his days on the pub until the harmonic convergence. He helps recruit children who has an Imperium Essence.